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Robot Garage, Edibles Rex win chance to study marketing from Google

Two local small businesses are among a dozen chosen nationally to share in $3 million in grants from Chase and get marketing help from Google.

The Robot Garage Inc. in Birmingham and Detroit-based Edibles Rex each will receive a $250,000 grant from Chase.

They're also invited to Google's California headquarters to attend a marketing workshop, as part of the Mission Main Street Grants Program.

The winning businesses were chosen for demonstrating a solid business plan, feasible growth plan, overall passion for their business, the potential to make a positive impact within their local community and their likelihood to succeed within a two-year time frame, Chase and Google said in a release.

Nearly 35,000 small businesses from across the U.S. entered the contest, which drew votes from more than 1.7 million people.

The Robot Garage provides hands-on classes, events and products for robot and LEGO enthusiasts, both at its Birmingham shop and off-site during events like Motor City Comic Con at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi last May.

Edibles Rex, a catering business for corporate and social functions, operates a school food service division that dishes up more than 10,000 daily meals at charter schools and day care centers.

Founded in 1993, the company made the 2013 list of Michigan's 50 Companies to Watch and the 2013 "Inner City 100" list put out by the Boston-based Initiative for a Competitive Inner City and Fortune magazine, highlighting fast-growing, inner-city companies and their leaders as role models for entrepreneurship, innovative business practices and job creation.